Rowan
by Riegirl
Summary: Will Scarlett and Alan A'Dale will meet another member of the band. They just don't know it yet.
1. Chapter 1

Will was walking through the forest on his way to see his father and brother. He had to go off the path for at one point because some of the sheriff's guards had come ridding down it. He managed to slip off unseen, but he had decided to stay off the path for a while. He came to the edge of the forest. A hundred lengths to his right was the road and to his left he saw a cottage not far off. If he hadn't come out where he had on the forest line he probably would have missed it, the cottage was almost swallowed up by the forest.

' What's a cottage doing out here so far from town,' he wondered.

He saw movement just inside the forest line close to the cottage. Unable to contain his curiosity he decided to creep up and see what it was. As he stealthily moved closer he heard a woman singing. Sweet, clear notes. He had never heard anyone able to sing that beautifully.

Ill not leave thee, thou lone one,  
To pine on the stern,  
Since the lovely are sleeping,  
Go, sleep thou with them

Thus kindly Ill scatter  
Thy leaves oer the bed,  
Where thy mates of the garden  
Lie scentless and dead.

So soon may I follow  
When friendships decay;  
And from loves shining circle  
The gems drop away  
When true hearts lie witherd  
And fond ones are flown  
Oh! who would inhabit  
This bleak world alone?

He peaked throught the branches of the willow tree he was hiding in. A woman in a very dirty brown dress had her back to him, but he could see she was digging a hole. She had already dug about two foot deep and three foot wide. She stopped singing when she finished her song.

"Please, don't stop," Will said.

The girl jumped and turned around with her shovel held up like a sword. Will's heart skipped a beat in his chest and then picked up double time to make up for the skipped beat. She was lovely. Her enormous eyes were a blue that matched the sky and her hair was a most unusual color. In between a blond, a light brown, with red thrown in there when the light hit it just right.

"Who's there?" She asked in a hostile tone, " What do you want? … What do you want me to not stop?"

"I meant your singing," Will said not coming out of his hiding place just yet," It was lovely. Will you sing it again."

"Sing it for whom?" She said with less aggression, but still very weary," Do you need healing or did you come for some other reason?"

"I was just walking through the forest and heard your singing. Would you please sing the song again?" Will repeated.

She lowered the shovel a little, but Will could tell she was still on her guard. She had figured out were he was hidden, but did not move to try and see him.

"Come out of the willow tree," She said gently, but it she certainly was not asking.

He slowly came out, not wanting to frighten her any more than he already had.

As she looked at him she asked," Why were you walking through the forest? The road is not that far off. Just yonder."

"I know. I was taking the road, but I got off because I didn't want to run into trouble with some of the sheriff's guards," Will answered truthfully. He could not lie as Allan O' Dale could. His tongue would not be able to weave the story and his face would give him away.

She finally lowered her shovel and put it into the ground.

"The Sheriff's men do not often come this far, unless it is to collect taxes or there master will not help them when they are hurt," She said, "Have you come far?"

"Yes," Will simply answered. He had been walking for a day and a half.

"Come," the lady said as she turned to the house," I can give you a meal and check your feet, but after that you will have to be on your way."

Will followed her and leaned on the doorpost as she began to mess with pots and the fire.

"Will you sing that song again," Will says softly.

Tis the last rose of summer,  
Left blooming alone,  
All her lovely companions  
Are faded and gone.  
No flowr of her kindred  
No rosebud is nigh  
To reflect back her blushes,  
Or give sigh for sigh.

Ill not leave thee, thou lone one,  
To pine on the stern,  
Since the lovely are sleeping,  
Go, sleep thou with them

Thus kindly Ill scatter  
Thy leaves oer the bed,  
Where thy mates of the garden  
Lie scentless and dead.

So soon may I follow  
When friendships decay;  
And from loves shining circle  
The gems drop away  
When true hearts lie witherd  
And fond ones are flown  
Oh! who would inhabit  
This bleak world alone?

"That was lovely," he said when she had finished.

"Here come sit down and eat," she said as she put fresh bread and a bowl of soup on the table. Will didn't when he had smell any thing more delicious since his mothers cooking before Robin had gone off to war. He sat down and the first bite of bread made him wonder if his mothers had been this good.

"Put your feet here," she indicated her lap as she sat beside him.

He did as ordered. She gently took of his shoes and seemed to note with pleasure the moss that he had put in his shoes that morning.

"I can wrap in another herb that will work a little better than moss, but I see that you have seen to your own needs," She said.

"Are you a healer? Or a woods woman?" Will asked.

"Yes," She said hesitantly in a soft voice.

"Why were you digging," he asked as she dressed his feet in a strong, but pleasant smelling leaf of some plant.

"I was digging a grave," She said hauntedly.

"I'm sorry…Who's grave is it?"

"My mothers," She whispered as she put his shoes back on," Finish eating and then you can be back on your way, Sir"

He took a spoonful of soup, but was to distracted to enjoy it. He remembered when he lost his mother. He had helped his father dig her grave.

He finished the soup and then walked back out side. She was digging again. This time Will noticed a body wrapped in cloth lying a few feet away under a pine tree.

"May I work a bit for my supper?" He said gently,"…No child should have to bury their parent alone."

She hesitated and then nodded. He took the shovel from her and began to dig.

"I lost my own mother a few years ago," He said.

"I'm sorry… Did she die of natural causes?"

"No," Will snorted angrily," The Sheriff taxed us so heavily that we were short on food. My mother gave us her food unbeknownst to us. She slowly starved herself to death to see us from going hungry."

"The Sheriff's is an evil man," She said bitterly.

They worked quietly for a while till Will broke the silence.

"I don't know your name," Will said.

She looked off into the distance for a moment before she answered," My name is Rowan. And yours?"

"Will."


	2. Chapter 2

Will walked into the town. He headed in the direction of his aunts house. It had been such a long time since he had traveled this way. It had been five months ago when he had last seen his father and brother. He came upon his aunt's house and he saw his brother chopping wood outside. Luke looked up at the approaching traveler and took him a few moments to look past the hood and see that is was Will.

"Will!" He shouted as he swung the axe into the wood he was chopping and then ran towards his brother.

Will ran towards his brother and they embraced each other. They were close and each had missed his brother sorely.

"How have you been? We have heard of what you have been doing with Robin? Dad is so proud of you, but he worries about you. Why did you come?" Luke said.

"I came to see you," Will said laughing.

"Dad was hoping you would come soon. He had a message he wanted to send Robin. Now he can just tell you," Luke said.

Will looked around to make sure there was no one around.

"Dad can tell you more later. He is in the forest right now getting some wood for some chests he is making for the lord of the manor."

"So business has been good?" Will asked.

"Yeah, we are making ends meet and we have enough to eat. Sir Charles taxes heavily, but doesn't allow people to starve. So we live well. How about you? You look like you've been living off nuts, berries, and any thing you can hunt."

" I have," Will replied, but remembered the meal he had eaten yesterday, "What is Aunt Edna making for dinner?"

"Stew I think," Luke said.

Will saw his father coming down the road with some wood on his shoulders. He looked at his brother and they both ran down to greet the carpenter.

That evening after dinner Will and his father sat by the fire. Will watched his father carve out an axe handle.

"Luke mentioned that you had something to tell Robin," Will asked.

"I think that there is someone in need of Robin's protection," Dan Scarlett simple said in reply.

"Who is it?" Will asked.

"A man who also spent some time in the Holy land and returned displeases with what England has become," Dan said, "Come back in a fort night, he'll be ready he can come with you if Robin wants to see him."

"All right," Will said.


	3. Chapter 3

"Can we take a break?" asked Allan A'Dale.

"No, not yet." Will replied.

"Why? We have been walking half a day and I think now would be a good time to take a break."

Will just kept walking. When he had returned from Scarborough a week earlier, he had passed the woods woman's cottage. Rowan had not been there; so he had walked on. He had not told anyone about her. He didn't want to disrupt her privacy by telling his friends about her, but he still wanted to see her again.

'Just to make sure she is safe,' he said to himself.

They were near where the Sheriff's soldiers had forced him off the road. Allan gave a, "What der ya think you're doing?"

Will just kept walking. Allan gave a bewildered shake to his head, yet followed. His friend had been awful quite since he had returned from visiting his father and brother, he new that Will would tell him eventually what was going on.

Will came to the edge of the forest and then headed in the opposite way of the road.

"Where ya going?" Allan asked right before he saw the cottage, "Oh, didn't know that you had a girl ta see, mate."

Will turned and gave Allan a look that said he did not appreciate Allan teasing comment at that moment. Will and Alan walked up to the cottage.

"Hullo, anyone home?" Alan called.

No one answered.

"Well, let's get back on the road. There's no one here," Alan said.

"Just a moment," Will said as he headed back into the woods behind the house.

Alan followed and saw as Will walked up to a grave.

"Oy, Who died?" Alan asked.

"A woods woman," Will replied.

Will opened his pack and took out a cross he had made. It was small enough to fit in his pack, but sturdy enough to last for several years. He had carved many small intracite designs on the wood of leaves and flowers. At the center he had carved as best he could a rowan tree.

"When did you make that?" Alan wanted to know.

"I started it when I went to visit my father and I finished it last night while I kept watch," Will said, "Lets get moving again."

Alan and Will headed back towards the road. Alan looked back several times trying to figure out why Will seemed so attached to this odd place.


	4. Chapter 4

Will walked into town alone. He headed to his father's once again. He hoped that this mission would not be a trap. He did not want his family to suffer any more on his account. As he neared the house he didn't see anyone, but he did hear sound coming from his father's workshop. He quietly walked up to it and he eased the door open quietly. He immediately could smell the sent of fresh carved wood. Dan and Luke Scarlett were carefully nailing together a cradle.

"Hello," Will said softly.

Both Dan and Luke looked up surprised, but then looks of joy spread over their faces as they stopped what they were doing to come greet him.

"How are you? You look well," Dan said in greeting.

"I'm well, Father," Will laughed as the three hugged.

"Did Sir Robin agree to take on the man I told you of?" Dan asked.

"He agreed to meet him, but wanted to promise anything until he has meet the man himself."

"Aye, Robin is wise," Dan said.

"He has to be careful," Will replied, "The Sheriff is always planning traps and scheming."

"Have you had any new adventures?" Luke asked.

"Come, he can tell you over a hot meal," Dan said as he headed out of the workshop," I 'll go and get him. When were you planning on leaving?"

"If he is ready, tomorrow."

"I think he will be ready," Dan said.

Over warm bread and chicken soup Will talked with his brother and Father.

"Did you finish or are you still working on that cross you started on?" Dan asked.

"I finished it," Will said.

"Who was it for?" Luke asked.

"It was for the mother of a friend," was all Will said on the matter.

As the sunset Will watched as his father went into the forest. He hoped that Alan was doing his job.

Alan was doing his job even though he had been tempted to go to the inn in town. He watched from his uncomfortable spot in a tree as Dan Scarlett walked into the woods. He quietly made his way down the tree and then followed the carpenter. They made their way just inside the tree line, until Dan came out right behind the church. He walked through the graveyard to a side door in the church.

Alan watched from behind a big stone statue. As he was trying to decide if he should follow into the church Dan Scarlett came out and started to return the way he had come to his home. Alan saw shadow of a monk with his hood up, but he couldn't see his face. Alan followed Dan Scarlett back and made sure that he returned home. Yet Alan decided that the next morning he would visit the church. It was time he had a good confession.

The next morning Alan walked into the church looking like a traveler with a walking stick and a pack on his back. An old priest came to greet him.

'This man is too short and stooped to be the man a saw last night,' Alan thought.

"Hello, Father," He said aloud.

"Good morning, my son. How can our church serve you this morning?" The old man said.

" I was looking to confess my sins and maybe see an old friend," Alan said putting on his most repentant face he had.

"I can help with the confession, but an old friend…Does this old friend have a name?" the priest asked.

"I'm afraid I don't know his new name he has taken orders. He and I used to fight in the Holy land together," Alan wove his lies together skillfully.

"I see. I will ask around, but I don't think that we have any one who fought in the crusades," the priest said, "If you come this way I will hear your confession."

Alan came out of the church not feeling like a sod like he normally did. Usually the priest loaded him down with guilt and then had him do some sort of penance. This priest had listened and then asked him he felt better. Alan had said yes, but didn't he have some penance to do. The priest had smiled and said his penance had been paid already.

Alan shrugged off the strange comment and then went his way. He left the town and then circled back and watched the church from a tree. He saw the old priest come out to the shed near the graveyard. The priest knocked and the same man the Dan Scarlett had talked to opened the door. The priest said some thing to him and then went back inside the church. Alan watched a while longer before going to report.


End file.
